


The Wolf Wakes

by Wanderbird



Series: Fragments [8]
Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Genre: Gen, Mute Link (Legend of Zelda), Works as a standalone, but it's technically a sequel to Divine Beast
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-12 11:06:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28759293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wanderbird/pseuds/Wanderbird
Summary: Link was summoned to another time.He appeared there as a wolf, and the kid needed him, and even if he wanted to, he couldn't leave. So he stayed. He tagged along with this other Link and helped out where he could. How else was he supposed to spend his time?Of course, eventually something was bound to go wrong.Link was killed. He was dying, he knew it, and the fairy wouldn't heal him, and then--And then he woke up elsewhere.Edit 1/25/2021:welp I guess this isn't a oneshot anymore!It should be finished now, it just didn't make sense to me to put the next part in its own fic.
Relationships: Link & Uli (Legend of Zelda)
Series: Fragments [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1525865
Comments: 5
Kudos: 52





	1. Dawn (again)

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!  
> This is technically a sequel to another fic in this series, called Divine Beast. Go read that too if you want! You don't have too, though, it should work fine as a standalone. Hope you enjoy!

Link woke with his heart in his mouth.  
His limbs felt frozen.

 _Where am I?_ a thought drifted through his consciousness, piercing as the dawn. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t move and there was someone sitting by the foot of the bed and why was he in a bed? He couldn’t breathe or twitch or—

The last thing he remembered.

The kid’s fairy couldn’t heal him. He had no idea why, only that it fled from him like everyone else, because he was a wolf again, he was _trapped_ as a wolf, trapped in a monster’s shape _again_. And there was something warm trickling down his fur and he _wanted to scream—_ Link could almost still feel the horrible cold of muscle and nerves exposed to air, the panting of his breath against whatever that long, pointy thing was that had lodged between his ribs and pulsed agony in time with his heartbeat. The kid’s shouting reached his ears as if through a thick fog. They would be sad when Link died. Then a jagged club came down on his head, already coated with blood.  
Darkness.

And then he’d woken here, in this bed.

Link’s lungs ached for lack of air.  
Slowly, slowly, he directed his body. Breathe _in_ like this, then out, nice and slow…  
It was the breathing that did it. On the second careful exhale, his body remembered how to breathe. On the third, his muscles stopped feeling so heavy, his joints unlocked, and finally he _moved._ That first motion opened the floodgates and Link sat bolt upright in the bed.

He was alone.

That was the first thing he noticed, the silence in the little house that seemed so strange. There was someone outside, though, not far away, Link could hear them chopping wood. At least he was human-shaped again.  
The second thing he noticed was the room itself. He knew this house. This was Rusl and Uli’s house, nice and safe and quiet. There were baby things tucked in one corner, by the hearth where coals glowed orange in the shade. Why was he lying in Rusl’s house?

Link patted himself down with blurry urgency. Human, yes, he was human, and dressed only in his undershirt and old trousers. Where were his belongings? His armor, his sword, his tools? At least he felt clean again, though his body ached as though he’d been abed for _days._  
He dragged himself out of bed.

The more he looked, the more he recognized his surroundings. He’d lived here with Rusl and Uli for years, when he was a kid, before Uli helped him finish his treehouse. It was… familiar. Nice.  
He sighed.  
Light slipped in through the window, twirling dust in its embrace.  
Gingerly, Link braced himself on the bed long enough to lever himself to his feet.

“What the…” A voice came through the walls from outside, muffled though it was. A moment later, the door creaked open. “Hello?” One foot peeked through the door, followed by—

_Uli!_ Link straightened, and took in a sharp breath only to burst into great, hacking coughs. He couldn’t help it; he lost his footing and slid back to the ground, shaking and struggling to catch his breath. Uli was at his side in an instant.

“Link?! You’re awake!” Uli looked the same as always, smiling through her worry as she held his torso upright against the wall. “Oh goddesses, we were all so worried. Are you okay?”  
Eventually, Link found himself able to breathe again. He took in a few deep, careful breaths before signing an answer. _“I’m… okay, I guess.”_ His hands shook. Link couldn’t seem to make them stop. _“I’m human.”_ That last was such a relief that Link _had_ to say it, even if Uli wouldn’t understand.  
Uli tittered a little laugh. “Of course you’re human, Link!” Callused hands brushed the bangs from his face, long though they’d become. Link didn’t remember his hair to be this long. “What else would you be? A Zora?”  
Link didn’t even manage to fake a smile, just a sort of strained grimace. _“I’m in your house, right? How did I get here? What—what happened, on this end of things?”_

“Well,” Uli looked worried. “You and Colin were out riding, and then you just fell off Epona, out of nowhere, he says. We think you hit your head. You were out for… you were out for a while. Colin brought you back to the village, and we set you up in here, but you didn’t wake up! We even brought Renado out to look at you, by which I mean Colin and Ilya did, those brave souls, but Renado couldn’t find anything wrong. He did say he found a certain artifact—it looked kind of like a pinecone?—he found it on your belt, and said it might be the cause, but he wasn’t willing to touch it. He wrapped it around a stick and put it with the rest of your belongings in the attic. How much do you remember?”

Link remembered riding with Colin. Nayru, it felt like that was months ago! It _had_ been months ago! And then Link had a horrible thought. _“Uli—”_ he signed. _“How long have I been asleep?”  
_ “Don’t worry about that.” It had to be bad, then. Uli only stopped smiling when it was really serious. “Just worry about recovering, alright?”  
_“Uli—”_ he started. _  
_ “It’s been five months.”

Silence.

Then Uli continued. She slid down to sit next to him on the floor, pressing the side of her head to the wall and squeezing her eyes shut. Her hands closed into fists on her lap. “You’ve been asleep for _five months._ Colin, Din bless that boy, has been worried sick. He and Rusl and Ilya have all been taking turns dripping soup down your throat every day and changing your clothes, and—Princess Zelda even came to check on you, did you know that?” Uli rubbed at her face, pushing the short blonde hair from her forehead. “She tried to wake you. She tried everything. She sat by your bedside for _hours,_ calling your name and working strange magics, even asking the very shadows for help. She sang until her voice gave out, songs that healed normal injuries before our very eyes, songs that woke every soul who heard. Nothing worked.” Uli shrugged. She had stopped looking at him somewhere in that monologue, fixing her gaze on the opposite wall. “You just… slept.”  
Link swallowed.  
Somehow, he’d assumed the goddesses would put him back sometime closer to when he left, instead of just… leaving his entire life to chance. He was lucky Colin had been there to find him. _“I’m sorry,”_ he signed. It was all he could think of to say. _“Thank you all for taking care of me.”  
_ “Oh, please.” Uli cracked a sardonic smile. “We—I—could hardly do otherwise.”

Link leaned into her for a moment, breathing in that familiar scent of sawdust and dirt. It was not as comforting as it used to be. _It’s okay, Link,_ he tried to tell himself. _You’re human. It’s safe. No-one will panic and try to hurt you right now, because you’re_ human, _not a monster again. Not a monster.  
_ After a long moment, he sighed. _“I should get up. Talk to people.”  
_ “Take all the time you need, sweetheart.” Uli stood, brushing off the legs of her trousers when she got upright. “Colin’s watching the little one for me out in the pumpkin patch, so there’s no rush.”  
Oh. That made a lot of sense. Still, Link took the offered hand and levered himself up as best he could. No wonder his legs were so weak, if he hadn’t been awake enough to stand in months! He clung to Uli’s shoulder this time and tried not to feel too embarrassed about the whole thing when she helped him sit in a chair by the fireplace.

“I’ll call people over when you’re ready. Don’t want you to get too overwhelmed, after all, especially when you can hardly retreat to the basement of your treehouse right now!” Uli ruffled his hair affectionately. “Do you have a preference who I bring over here first?”

Link relaxed into his chair. Trust Uli to realize how overwhelming that would be, if the whole village stuffed themselves in her little house at once! _“What, asking me to play favorites?”_ he teased. His hands were trembling less now in his gestures, and Link decided to take that as a win. _“I love you all equally! But I would like to thank Colin for getting me here in one piece.”_   
“Colin it is, then.” She nodded firmly. Link lunged forward to grab her sleeve when she started to leave, and Uli turned back around to face him. “Yes?”  
This time, Link’s signs were newly hesitant. _“Uli… Renado was right not to touch that artifact in my gear. If I fall asleep like this again then please,_ please _do me this favor: don’t touch it. Don’t let anyone touch it, or look at it, or anything. Okay? It’s… it’s dangerous. Dump it in my basement if you have to, so long as nobody can touch or obsess over it. Understand?”  
_ Uli lifted one eyebrow in a dubious expression. “Are you sure I shouldn’t just go dump the thing in Kakariko Gorge, then?”

Link tried to suppress the panic that immediately rose up in him at the thought. He tried not to think about how attached he’d gotten to the artifact over time, normally, but this panic—it had to be a result of the magic, right? Not worth acknowledging. _“Only if there’s no other choice.”_ Even he could tell his words didn’t look casual in the least. _“It’s a helpful tool, though. For me. I know how to use it safely, or safely enough, but—but I don’t know if anyone else even can. Please don’t throw it in the gorge.”_

“Okay.” The word sounded sincere, and Link calmed down a little. “I’ll hide it in a chest, then. Nobody’ll even have to know it’s there. Do you think you’ll fall asleep again?”

Link shrugged. If he was being honest, he had no idea. Maybe now that he’d died in the service of that future Link, his job was done. But… something told him that wasn’t the case. _“I would not be surprised. I’m sorry.”_

Uli’s smile twinged with sadness. “I wish you’d tell me, tell _someone_ what’s going on. We love you, you know.”  
_I know,_ he thought. _But… I can’t tell you about this. Even if you believed me._


	2. Dusk (restored)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why is it that every time I write TP!Link, I end up writing more than I planned?   
> I couldn't stand not writing a part 2 for this, though, so. Have fun! I hope this actually makes sense to a reader besides me, because I didn't get around to asking anyone to beta it! :)   
> Also Uli is a carpenter now because I say so

“And you’re… you’re sure about this?”  
It tugged at Link’s heart seeing Uli like this. The woman had practically raised him, after all, but what else could he do?

Link gave a sad sort of sigh. “ _I’m sure_ ,” he signed, though the gestures turned out more hesitant than he meant them to. He let Epona’s reins loosen in his fingers long enough to pull Uli into a hug, and she was kind enough not to ask again, even once he withdrew so she could see his hands. “ _This has happened three times already, I don’t see it stopping anytime soon. I refuse to let you all live out your lives while I sit around in a coma. Besides,”_ Link risked a smile, _“this way you won’t even notice I’m gone.”  
_ “Let me come with you. Or Rusl, or Colin, or _someone._ What if something happens on the way there?” Uli protested.  
“ _I can’t_.” This time, at least, Link’s words actually felt as certain as they should. It made sense. He couldn’t even get to the Lost Woods without changing forms, not reliably. Sure, he could borrow Rusl’s golden cucco again, but for how long? What if it wandered off? And bringing another person with him, someone who might get lost, or killed by that poor Skull Kid’s marionettes… no. _“I don’t have any good way to bring people with me, Uli, not where I’m going.”  
_ “Where _are_ you going?”

That, of course, was the real question. The existence of the Temple of Time tucked in the center of the Lost Woods was far from secret, but as far as anyone else knew, it was in ruins. Rusl and the other Resistance members had explored those ruins quite thoroughly—but without the Master Sword, all they could find was that: ruins.

Link pasted certainty onto his face as best he could. _“Somewhere safe,”_ he replied. It wasn’t an answer and he knew it. _“I’ll be fine, tucked outside of time, and there’s a friend who’s agreed to check up on me.”_ Ooccoo hadn’t taken too much convincing, either, now that the cannon up to the City in the Sky was working. But she could access the preserved version of the Temple of Time, and she would not get lost in the woods, nor question how Link managed to get there. _“If anything goes wrong, she can take me back here. I won’t just waste away.”_

Uli finally softened. “I know,” she said. “I just wish you would tell me the details, Link. I worry, sometimes. We all do.”

 _“I know you do.”_ Link smiled for real, this time, and captured his adoptive mother’s hand in a reassuring squeeze. _“I’ll be okay.”_ He did not offer to visit. Last time he'd died in the kid's world, barely a day had gone by in Ordon before Link found himself dropping off again. He'd hoped, for a while, that there would be some minimum amount of time between summons... no such luck.  
The carpenter closed her eyes, holding onto him for one last moment—but then she nodded. “Alright, then.” Uli looked back at him, fondness etched in every line of her face. “Safe travels, Link. I love you.”  
Words were not enough; Link wrapped her in a last embrace before he left, breathing in the smell of sawdust and smoke that lingered on her clothes, the feeling of warm arms around him. They drew apart, and he pressed his forehead to Uli’s, clean and unmarred skin against the marks of twilight like charcoal that scarred his brow. “I will be back,” he whispered, out loud for once. His stutter was as bad as ever, his mouth struggling to form the shape of words, but Uli would understand him anyway. She had at least a decade of practice, after all. “I promise.”

With that, Link pulled himself away, swinging atop Epona with more effort than it ever used to take. That, he supposed, was the other part of why he wanted to hide himself away. The longer he remained comatose here in Ordon, the more his body weakened from disuse—but if he stayed outside the normal flow of time, those rules no longer applied. He wouldn’t have to feel _weak_ like this, helpless in case of emergencies.  
Probably not, anyway. Ooca and Faron had both agreed with his idea, and Link remembered the eerie way he had not hungered or healed, grown tired or thirsty or anything of the sort during his initial expedition into the Temple.

With a heavy heart, Link made the last of his goodbyes.

* * *

_I guess we’re here, huh girl?_

Link slid off Epona’s back and onto his feet, giving her a loving pat on the neck. This was as far as she could go. He’d met the golden wolf here once, he recalled, the very first time they’d met, sitting there on the tile as if the whole world had fallen into dream. Link had never seen many Staalfos, before, but the kid’s world had more than enough, all of them dumb and unceasingly aggressive. None of them had ever appeared as a golden wolf. None of the kid’s Staalfos had ever spoken, either.  
He unstrapped his pack from behind her saddle with hands that shook from nerves now that there was no-one watching, slipping it over his back instead. Master Sword, bedroll, bow, equipment pouch—that was everything he needed.

Link dug the curse crystal out of his belt.

Epona eyed it as nervously as ever, but Link gave her a reassuring pat while he detached the reins from her bridle, tucking them safely into her saddlebags where she couldn’t trip on them. Then he stepped back. He pressed the crystal to his palm.

The change didn’t hurt too much anymore. Not the way it did for that first, agonizing transformation as twilight fell, or when he jumped in front of Zant’s curse that had been meant for Midna. Mostly, these days, the change was cold. Uncomfortable. Link felt the crystal’s influence drip to fill him like an oil slick, felt his bones and flesh shift beneath its pressure. He dropped to all fours like he always did, and it was done.  
Link shivered.  
_“I still don’t like that thing,”_ Epona stamped anxiously at the ground _. “It feels wrong.”  
_ It took a moment for Link to settle back into this skin, but then he brushed his shoulder to Epona’s leg in what he hoped was a reassuring gesture _. “I know,”_ he said. _“It’s useful, though.”_  
Epona pressed her nose against the thick fur of his neck as if to reassure him in turn. It was sweet. Link couldn’t help but wag his tail, though he stayed still otherwise to keep from startling her. Her inspection done, she shoved at him with her head. _“Hurry up then, Link. I don’t want you to leave again in the middle of a jump. That was scary. And dangerous.”_  
Link sighed. _“I’ll see you later, Epona. Get home safely.”_ His horse’s only reply was an indignant toss of the head. As if she needed the reminder.

And then he jumped.

The path to the Sacred Grove was as annoying as ever. There wasn’t much wind, so Link kept having to switch forms back and forth to turn the platforms with his boomerang. Link counted his blessings that the Skull Kid didn’t seem to want to harangue him this time, once he arrived, instead letting him trot through the forest unmolested until he reached the Temple.  
 _This is it, I guess._  
Link reached for the feeling of the Master Sword that lurked wherever his human form hid, and let that cold pins-and-needles feeling overtake him again. He stood, fully human, in front of the empty doorway.

_Here goes nothing._

* * *

The Temple of Time stands as it always has.

It is pale stone and unyielding light, marble columns and gold and shining tile, locked away forever from the march of time.

The Temple of Time is built to protect.  
It guarded the entrance to the Sacred Realm, where the world stretched on beneath a golden sky. It guarded the Triforce, symbol of the goddesses, the only portal back to the world’s reflection. It guarded the Dominion Rod, that calls life and motion from empty stone. Long, long ago, when the Temple still stood in a desert and the main building had yet to be built, it guarded a door to a past already distant, when the gods had not yet taken mortal form at all. It remembers this, too. Ever after, the Temple has held itself aloof from the progression of seconds, hours, centuries.  
The Temple of Time is built to protect.

It stands wide and hollow, empty but for those creatures who have made it their home, empty save for those who shelter in its depths.

The Temple of Time stands as it always has.

And tucked away on a windowsill where none can reach, the empty body of the Hero of Courage sleeps.


End file.
